The Fetal Pain Bill

In May, anti-choice legislators - Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) and Rep. Christopher Smith (R-New Jersey)- introduced the Fetal Pain Bill, commonly known as the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, that had doctors read a statement informing women of the pain an unborn child feels during an abortion and would give her the opportunity to provide that child with anesthesia. The bill stated, "If Congress finds that there is substantial evidence that the process of being killed in an abortion will cause the unborn child pain," a doctor must tell his patient, "even though you receive a pain-reducing drug." Doctors who failed to read the statement could be fined $100,000 to $250,000.States are also required to revoke or suspend their medical licenses, or face the loss of Medicaid funding. Now, even though the bill was rejected by the House because there was evidence that the anesthesia caused fetal pain, some doctors still favor it . Anand, a pediatrician and professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, believes that a fetus experiences pain after 20 weeks gestation and that drugs provided to a pregnant woman do not anesthetize the fetus. He based his analysis on fetal response to external stimuli such as needling or moving away from a sharp object and concluded that is not possible to measure whether a fetus experiences pain. Anti- choice groups also favored the proposed bill such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council and the National Right to Life Committee. Even some of the Republicans favored it because they thought that the bill was intended to allow women make informed choices when considering an abortion. "This legislation is very, very badly needed," Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) said (New York Times, 12/7). But on the other hand, some abortion rights supporters said they were pleased the bill failed to pass. "This sham bill is yet another partisan political ploy that misguidedly attempts to insert the government into private medical conversations between women and their doctors," Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), who helped lead the opposition to the measure, said (Levey, Los Angeles Times, 12/7). She added, "We are wasting time today on a bill that is laden with rhetoric but very little science."